The bank told police they would give Fields a deadline of March 19, 5 p.m. to return all the money or they want him prosecuted. On Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said charges had not yet been filed related to this case.

While he obviously has no legal claim to the money, I wonder what specific crime the bank would prosecute him with?

He's obviously a huge, douchey idiot, but how did the bank screw up so spectacularly? If having the same name is enough to cause this, I imagine there are thousands of John Smiths getting unexpected windfalls every day.

DROxINxTHExWIND:JesusJuice: fark the bank. Their mistake, they should eat it. It's not like the bastards can't afford it.

Ever lost your car keys? Should the person who finds them be able to take ownership of your car?

Good point. I'm kind of on the fence with this, though. I was once in a situation where my bank accidentally took money out of my account. They put it back but it took almost a week. I will admit that they didn't let anything bounce but, still, it was a major hassle for me. In this kids case, I say the bank should eat it because it took so long to be discovered (plus it was an actual bank error). They can make up the money from the fee;s they charge for everything.

The bank told police they would give Fields a deadline of March 19, 5 p.m. to return all the money or they want him prosecuted. On Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said charges had not yet been filed related to this case.

While he obviously has no legal claim to the money, I wonder what specific crime the bank would prosecute him with?

It seems more like a civil matter than criminal to me.

Good point. Maybe the idiot really did believe that the money was from his Gramma. He can pay it back when the old lady snuffs it.

I agree for the most park with "fark the banks," but you've got to be some kind of idiot to think spending a dime of that money would play out well. And I don't believe that the kid deserves the money because the bank screwed up. If I accidentally park my car in your spot one night you don't then own my car.

The bank told police they would give Fields a deadline of March 19, 5 p.m. to return all the money or they want him prosecuted. On Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said charges had not yet been filed related to this case.

While he obviously has no legal claim to the money, I wonder what specific crime the bank would prosecute him with?

It seems more like a civil matter than criminal to me.

They will charge him with theft most likely. Otherwise, they can charge him with failing to report found property.

Mentalpatient87:I agree for the most park with "fark the banks," but you've got to be some kind of idiot to think spending a dime of that money would play out well. And I don't believe that the kid deserves the money because the bank screwed up. If I accidentally park my car in your spot one night you don't then own my car.

The bank told police they would give Fields a deadline of March 19, 5 p.m. to return all the money or they want him prosecuted. On Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said charges had not yet been filed related to this case.

While he obviously has no legal claim to the money, I wonder what specific crime the bank would prosecute him with?

It seems more like a civil matter than criminal to me.

Here in Maryland, it'd be trivial to convict him of Theft at a bare minimum.

The bank told police they would give Fields a deadline of March 19, 5 p.m. to return all the money or they want him prosecuted. On Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said charges had not yet been filed related to this case.

While he obviously has no legal claim to the money, I wonder what specific crime the bank would prosecute him with?

It seems more like a civil matter than criminal to me.

They will charge him with theft most likely. Otherwise, they can charge him with failing to report found property.

Here are there definitions of theft in Georgia (according to some random site, too lazy to parse official documents).

It may fall under "theft of service," but even then I don't think there was any intent to commit the act here. Seeing as he had no intention of acquiring the money, it just appeared, I don't think theft really applies.

I think under civil law he will be required to pay it all back, but I'm not seeing how what he did was criminal. At least without admitting that he knew the money wasn't legitimately hist (he needs to keep his mouth shut. There is no benefit to him in making any statements on the matter until it's in court.)

"I'm just an ignorant teenage caveman lawyer. I don't know anything about your high finance ways of deposits and withdrawals. All I know is the magic ATM box kept giving me more and more of the green paper."

I withdrew money from an ATM once and it said i had over 450k in the bank. I go online and look at my account, and it says the same thing, even tho I can't find an enormous deposit anywhere. The next day I look, and its back to normal.

MelGoesOnTour:DROxINxTHExWIND: JesusJuice: fark the bank. Their mistake, they should eat it. It's not like the bastards can't afford it.

Ever lost your car keys? Should the person who finds them be able to take ownership of your car?

Good point. I'm kind of on the fence with this, though. I was once in a situation where my bank accidentally took money out of my account. They put it back but it took almost a week. I will admit that they didn't let anything bounce but, still, it was a major hassle for me. In this kids case, I say the bank should eat it because it took so long to be discovered (plus it was an actual bank error). They can make up the money from the fee;s they charge for everything.

I like your thought process.

If you are at my house and you lay your cell phone down. Or your purse or IPad whatever ... I can take it and keep it. You put it in my posession, thus it is mine.

Or you leave your coat in my restaraunt. When you come back for it, I keep it. It is mine.You park your car on my property inadvertantly, while taking your daughter to look at some ducks by the stream. I take it and keep it. You put it in my possession. It is mine.

LemSkroob:DROxINxTHExWIND: JesusJuice: fark the bank. Their mistake, they should eat it. It's not like the bastards can't afford it.

Ever lost your car keys? Should the person who finds them be able to take ownership of your car?

There is a difference between finding car keys laying on the ground, and someone walking up to you in the street, shoving the keys in your pocket, and then walking away.

Settle down with the adjectives. Someone in a bank pressed the wrong button. You dropped your keys fishing in your pockets for something else. Both are mistakes. Don't allow your hatred for banks and bankers compromise your sense of right and wrong. I get it. We all want to stick it to the bankers becausse they did it to us. If you have no problem using them being evil as a justification to steal moenty that doesn't belong to you then cool, just say it. but, lets not act like its not theft.

We had a bank error (not in our favor) which cleaned out our checking account for about 30 hours, and during every conversation I had with them while getting it fixed I asked "will you be paying me a $32 handling fee? Because that's what you would have charged me if I had accidentally overdrawn. No? How about a wine and cheese gift basket?"Needless to say we didn't get a penny out of them, but it was fun pestering them.

The bank told police they would give Fields a deadline of March 19, 5 p.m. to return all the money or they want him prosecuted. On Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said charges had not yet been filed related to this case.

While he obviously has no legal claim to the money, I wonder what specific crime the bank would prosecute him with?

It seems more like a civil matter than criminal to me.

They will charge him with theft most likely. Otherwise, they can charge him with failing to report found property.

Here are there definitions of theft in Georgia (according to some random site, too lazy to parse official documents).

It may fall under "theft of service," but even then I don't think there was any intent to commit the act here. Seeing as he had no intention of acquiring the money, it just appeared, I don't think theft really applies.

I think under civil law he will be required to pay it all back, but I'm not seeing how what he did was criminal. At least without admitting that he knew the money wasn't legitimately hist (he needs to keep his mouth shut. There is no benefit to him in making any statements on the matter until it's in court.)